Friday, July 23, 2010

My father-in-law (89 years old) needed Oxygen this week for a while please pray for him until further notice – Mordechai Menachem ben Mindel. Yoel ben Esther sent me a prayer request for his own illness.

Mazel Tov to Yael Pasternak on the occasion of her bas Mitzvah from grandfather Pauli

Parsha Va-etchanan

The Zohar HaKadosh speaks of Moshe’s prayers and how the gates of prayer were shut before all his supplications. Usually HASHEM will even hear the worst of the wicked as HE did with King Manasshe who called on all the idols in the world to save him. Only when he called upon HASHEM was he saved. Now why was this so, in order to make a Kiddush HASHEM. So now the question arises was Moshe worst off than Manasshe?

The answer is in two steps. Step one: It is known in heaven that the kingdom of one person does not over-ride or coincide with the kingdom of another. G-D would have preferred one minute more of learning or Psalms from David than 1000 Korbanos of Shlomo but when it came time for him to die there was no choice but for Shlomo to start ruling. Step two: Each of the following people completed their task to bring about the Moshiach but it was not their job to finish the work. In Mesectas Avos it is written – Not upon you to finish the work. Avraham did his part, Yacov was complete and yet could not be Moshiach and the same with Yehuda. Moshe was the Moshiach from Egypt but not the Moshiach that we long for and Nachshon ben Ammiadav and David completed more and more and yet could not be the Moshiach. Then comes along others who look for Moshiach in people like the Lubavitcher Rebbe and others even to the extent that some boors and Am HaAretz called him godly (not upon us). Normal people recognized him as a great scholar and thinking and a person wishing for Moshiach.

For Moshe the gates of prayer and repentance were closed as there would never be a Prophet as great or humble as him. He had completed his reign and now it was time for Yehoshua the conquer to obtain the land of Eretz Yisrael and divide it into an inheritance for the tribes.

3:23 And I besought the LORD at that time, saying: 24 'O Lord GOD, Thou hast begun to show Thy servant Thy greatness, and Thy strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth, that can do according to Thy works, and according to Thy mighty acts? 25 Let me go over, I pray Thee, and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that goodly hill-country, and Lebanon.' 26 But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and hearkened not unto me; and the LORD said unto me: 'Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto Me of this matter. 27 Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold with your eyes; for thou shalt not go over this Jordan. 28 But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him; for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see.' 29 So we abode in the valley over against Beth-peor.

Read and learn from this. There are many people living in the States who could come to Israel and do not. Let it be known that if Moshe prayed so hard to enter the land so why not retire here if you can’t find work here?

… 4:21 Now the LORD was angered with me for your sakes, and swore that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the LORD thy God gives thee for an inheritance; 22 but I must die in this land, I must not go over the Jordan; but ye are to go over, and possess that good land. 23 Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which He made with you, and make you a graven image, even the likeness of anything which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee. 24 For the LORD thy God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.

Nowadays we have photographs of people and they are allowed but nobody thinks of worshipping them. However, if one makes an image of an Angel or human form of G-D that is specifically forbidden. The Golden Calf was the legs and a face the sinners saw from the Divine Chariot as it passed out of Egypt over the split sea. We all learned what happened to this mixed multitude I rest my case.

25 When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have been long in the land, and shall deal corruptly, and make a graven image, even the form of any thing, and shall do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke Him;

Moshe is learning out from HASHEM’s dictation a Cal v’homer (from the easy to the difficult). If in my generation that witnessed the ten plagues, left Egypt with tremendous wealth, ,heard the voice of G-D on Har Sinai but failed to live up to the Torah all the more so for a generation twice, thrice or more removed who witnessed none of these.

26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over the Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.

This is not a fire and brimstone warning but a fact. For those of us who made it to be born Jewish today means that somewhere our forefathers followed the Torah well and despite the hardships continued observing Judaism and believing.

27 And the LORD shall scatter you among the peoples, and ye shall be left few in number among the nations, whither the LORD shall lead you away.

Inquisitions, Pogroms, Holocaust you get the works to keep you small in numbers.

28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29 But from thence ye will seek the LORD thy God; and thou shalt find Him, if thou search after Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. 30 In thy distress, when all these things are come upon thee, in the end of days, thou wilt return to the LORD thy God, and hearken unto His voice; 31 for the LORD thy God is a merciful God; He will not fail thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which He swore unto them.

At the time of the second Temple there were 1,200,000 Pessach Korbanos of Yehuda, Benyamin and Levi for the rest of the tribes were exiled and never returned. Each Korban had 35 to 50 men on them and this did not count women, children or the sickly elderly. Where are they now?

32 For ask now of the days past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from the one end of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? 33 Did ever a people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? 34 Or hath God assayed to go and take Him a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 Unto thee it was shown, that thou might know that the LORD, He is God; there is none else beside Him.

This is a warning for Messianic JEWS and not non-Jews. It might be that a non-Jew can believe in Angelic or a soul helping the CREATOR and maybe not violate the 7 commandments of Noach. But a Jew cannot have (see below) other gods besides ME. For a Jew cannot put anybody next to HASHEM – not a prophet like Moshe, not the Shechina of HASHEM that rests upon him, not his DIVINE SOUL from within. Adon Olam – translated from an old Siddur to be – The L-RD of the world HE reigns alone! There are no equals – Samael aka the devil is only a prosecuting Angel with no free will (See the first chapter of Iyob). He merely reports to HASHEM Yisborach. In fact all Angels are lower than man because they existed before the physical world and man creates his own negative and positive angels. As for your own Neshama (daughter of G-D) it is pure but polluted by your body.

36 Out of heaven He made thee to hear His voice, that He might instruct thee; and upon earth He made thee to see His great fire; and thou didst hear His words out of the midst of the fire. 37 And because He loved thy fathers, and chose their seed after them, and brought thee out with His presence, with His great power, out of Egypt, 38 to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day; 39 know this day, and lay it to thy heart, that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath; there is none else.

Just One and only One!

40 And thou shalt keep His statutes, and His commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou may prolong thy days upon the land, which the LORD thy God gives thee, forever.

Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Crusaders, Turks, British and Arabs may occupy the land for short periods of time while you are in the Galus but eternally Eretz Yisrael is for Am Yisrael forever and ever.

5:1 And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them: Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and observe to do them. 2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. 4 The LORD spoke with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire-- 5 I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to declare unto you the word of the LORD; for ye were afraid because of the fire, and went not up into the mount--saying: 6 I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

No idol, no Buddha or anybody else.

7 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, even any manner of likeness, of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 8 Thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them; for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate Me,

I once watched in India a statue of an Elephant who by gravity *sucked* milk and everybody was bringing it milk. Not far from Rachel’s Tomb is a building that has a very-very low entrance so that one must enter bowing. Rabbi Eliezer Weissfish Shlita visited the building and walked in backwards and there was a pessel facing the entrance from the inside. I was in Prague and there is a statue of some local woman whom people waited on the Carl’s Bridge to kiss the statue and pray there. It out did the Madonna for the local prayers. A number of years ago, people were afraid to buy and even burnt natural hair wigs because the hair was cut and offered as a donation to some statue in India. The Rabbis ruled that cutting of a hair in front of an altar is not idol worship as it is not the way people worship idols and perhaps that it is sent by the temple for processing immediately and not left there. That is good for a person who is not-Jewish but a Ben/Bas Yisrael is forbidden under any circumstances from doing this and should choose death rather than do these things even if forced.

9 and showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments.

It is this mercy which allows families who are non-religious and lost their way to have children who return unto Torah.

10 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain.

This is why I write: L-RD, G-D, ELOKIM, YOD KAY VAV KAY where the K should be hay, etc. I have heard many times Goyim swearing cheeses H. C. and other nasty words. We are extra careful in any language: G-TT, D in French, etc. I got into a debate with other religious Jews over this. I even heard in the background of a phone call – a 14 year old explain OMG a midget instead of the blessing – who has produced changes/variations in creation.

11 Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD thy God commanded thee. 12 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; 13 but the seventh day is a Sabbath unto the LORD thy God, in it thou shalt not do any manner of work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor your ox, nor your ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou. 14 And thou shalt remember that thou was a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day

Unlike the Bnei Noach who glorify creation, we are to complete refrain from Melacha which is a creative act like sowing, sewing, building, carrying where there is not Eruv, cooking, travelling even by foot more than 2,000 Amos from the city. If you go according to the standard length of the nations of approximately 18 inches or 45 cm or the Chazon Ish measurement of half a meter the variance at the end of your trail is between 900 meters and one kilometer. (That is a little longer than an American Football field)

15 Honor thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God commanded thee; that thy days may be long, and that it may go well with thee, upon the land which the LORD thy God gives thee.

This goes also to your Rabbis. There were two Roshei Yeshiva in Grodno In Ashdod. Rabbi Zvi Drapkin Shlita was like an older brother to me very strong and mild in Torah. Rabbi Dov Zvi Korrelenstein Shlita who was full of the fire of Torah when he screamed about what was going on around us on the streets of the non-religious world he would shout to heaven that one could hear him from most of the Gimmel section in Ashdod to the Vav section in Ashdod. He would scream about the emptiness of immodesty, Shabbos violation, not observing family purity, the wasting of time by watching television, putting ones faith in other countries to help us instead of the Torah Kedusha and Mitzvos and how the Yeshiva World would have to extra careful outside. One Rosh Yeshiva complemented the other inspired both love and fear of the L-RD. The late righteous Rabbi Tovia Wein would teach me and later another Baal Tshuvah Torah but he used to display anger at our butchering of the Hebrew in the Tanach. He was one of the last students of the great Chofetz Chaim. The parents and teachers have this job to – And you shall tell thy son on this day saying. (Shemos and the Haggada of Pessach) The one who brings us life in this world and the one who brings us life in the next world deserves honor just after HASHEM.

16 Thou shalt not murder.

Not the killing done by a soldier or somebody defending his home or his own life. The involuntary manslaughterer is taken up elsewhere with the cities of refuge.

Neither shalt thou commit adultery.

Not only that Maumzerim can be produced by this act but it just like homosexuality undermines the whole foundation of creation and society. For a man with a married woman it is also a violation of love thy neighbor as thyself. For a woman who has a husband who is not performing his duty, she has to go to consulting with her husband and not look at another man to console her earthly desires. It is a logical reason for a divorce. A man with an unmarried woman is looked upon in the Torah as lewdness.

Neither shalt thou steal.

The reference here is to steal a free man or woman for slavery. Elsewhere in the Torah is reference to a thief who sneaks in when one is away or asleep and a robber who holds up people with threats and if one can defend his life, he should do so even killing the robber. I am uncertain to this day if Yoran Van Der Sleuth murdered or sold Natalie Holloway or not. The Arabs would come into Africa and steal blacks and sell them into slavery. The irony of the whole situation is that instead of turning towards Judaism as it was many Jews who fought the civil rights battle, many are embracing Islam the religion of their inslavers.

Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbor.

In capital trials one could get the death penalty for perjury that would endangered an accused life.

17 Neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor's wife;

For her beauty, intelligence and/or money etc. for had she been your Besheart – the L-RD would have given her or will give her to you eventually.

neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's house, his field, or his man-servant, or his maid-servant, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is thy neighbor's.

Maybe he has done something in a past life or this life to deserve this or maybe he is wicked and will get his portion in this world while you suffer and get your portion in the next world.

18 These words the LORD spoke unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice, and it went on no more. And He wrote them upon two tables of stone, and gave them unto me.

The original Luchos HaBris were written in Hebrew willed by HASHEM Yisborach.

19 And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain did burn with fire, that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders;

The fear was so great that the soul left the body and Angels had to return each soul.

20 and ye said: 'Behold, the LORD our God hath shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire; we have seen this day that God doth speak with man, and he lives. 21 Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die. 22 For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? 23 Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God may say; and thou shalt speak unto us all that the LORD our God may speak unto thee; and we will hear it and do it.' 24 And the LORD heard the voice of your words, when ye spoke unto me; and the LORD said unto me: 'I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee; they have well said all that they have spoken. 25 Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear Me, and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever! 26 Go say to them: Return ye to your tents. 27 But as for thee, stand thou here by Me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it.' 28 Ye shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you; ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 29 Ye shall walk in all the way which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.

… 6:4 Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart; 7 and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sit in thy house, and when thou walk by the way, and when thou lie down, and when thou rise up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes. 9 And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates.

We say the Shema in the morning introductory prayers with the Korbanos, the morning and evening prayers and before we go to bed. However it should be ingrained in us.

What does the L-RD think about mixed marriages? … 7:1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before thee, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, I have wondered if these are the Shite Muslims? and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; 2 and when the LORD thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and thou shalt smite them; then thou shalt utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them;

In case you ever thought by accident or in some LSD dream of a Palestinian or Arab or other State alongside Yisrael. Let not your heart be troubled. Rabbi Meir Kahane HY”D wrote many years ago thanks to Tzipora: When Hashem, your G-d, will bring you to the Land to which you come to possess it, and He will thrust away many nations from before you [...], you shall not seal a covenant with them nor shall you show them favor (“lo techanem”). (Deut. 7:2)

[Regarding this we find in] Avodah Zarah 20a:“You must not give them any consideration” (Deut. 7:2): Do not give them a foothold [“chanayah”] on the land. Alternately: Ascribe to them no charm [“chen”. Rashi: “Do not say, 'How fine this non-Jew is!'”]. Alternately: Give them no free [“chinam”] gift.

Later on the Talmud concludes, “All are valid.”
An additional restriction appears in Rambam, Hilchot Avodah Zarah 10:3,4:We do not sell them houses and fields in Eretz Yisrael... neither do we lease fields to them... Why were our sages strict regarding fields? It is because [leasing them to non-Jews] has two [negative results]: It diminishes the tithes and gives non-Jews a foothold on the Land. We are allowed to sell them houses and fields outside the Land because it is not our land.

It is thus clear that there are two reasons for the Torah prohibition against selling houses, or even leasing fields, to any non-Jew, even if he be one of the righteous gentiles [a Ger Toshav].
Rambam mentioned both in discussing the prohibition against leasing fields (Hilchos Avodah Zarah 10:4): “It diminishes the tithes (1) and gives them a foothold on the land (2).”(1) Since Eretz Yisrael is holy and we are duty-bound to sanctify its soil through tithes (besides all the other mitzvot that are dependent on the land), how can we dare sell or lease land to any non-Jew?A non-Jew is not bound by tithes, and by our action, we diminish the scope of the mitzvah, and, so to speak, the holiness that is thereby added to this soil.
(2) A non-Jew, by buying or renting land in Eretz Yisrael, takes a portion of the land and has a sort of ownership over it, and it is forbidden to give him this foothold. What, after all, is this “foothold”? Surely it is the feeling in the non-Jew's heart that he has found a place to live, a place to call his own.Rambam wrote explicitly (Ibid.):
Why do we not sell to them? It says, “Do not give them any consideration” (Deut. 7:2). Give them no foothold on the Land. As long as they have no land, their residence there is temporary.

3 neither shalt thou make marriages with them: thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. 4 For he will turn away thy son from following Me, that they may serve other gods; so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and He will destroy thee quickly.

Converts are a different story and I will not go into Conversion here but see Yehoshua 2 and Ruth.

Mitzvos and Halachos by Danny Shoemann

It's a Mitzva to lend money to the poor. This Mitzva is greater than giving charity. If one has the money and refuses to lend it to the needy, one has sinned (as per Devarim 15:9).
Applies to everybody, everywhere, always. Verse: "When you lend money to the poor..." (Shemot 22:24) Source: The Chafetz-Chaim's Sefer HaMitzvos HaKatzar; Positive Mitzvah 62

It is forbidden to have relations with a Niddah until she has gone to the Mikveh. Included in Niddah are women who have given birth, had a period or are staining. The Niddah phase continues for 7 days after no blood is seen, and until she dips in a Mikveh under supervision of a trained Mikveh-lady. The laws of Niddah are one of the few Mitzvot for which one should give up one's life rather than transgress. A couple may not get married until they have studied the Halachot of Niddah. Applies to everybody, always, everywhere Verse: "Do not draw close to a woman when she is a Niddah..." (Vayikra 18:19) Source: The Chafetz-Chaim's Sefer HaMitzvos HaKatzar; Prohibition 132

It is forbidden to have relations with an unmarried woman who is promiscuous, unless one marries her; both him and her transgress. Applies to everybody, everywhere, always
Verse: "There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel" (Devarim 23:18) Source: The Chafetz-Chaim's Sefer HaMitzvos HaKatzar; Prohibition 133

On 9 B'Av (from sunset today - Monday afternoon - until nightfall on Tuesday evening) almost everybody needs to fast. Pregnant and nursing mothers need to fast on 9 B'Av even if it causes them discomfort, unless it's dangerous to their health. When in doubt, consult your LOR (Local Orthodox Rabbi). During the first 7 days after childbirth, a mother is not allowed to fast. Anybody who isn't healthy should only fast for a few hours. This includes a mother between 7 and 30 days after childbirth unless she feels up to fasting. When in doubt, consult your LOR. Children are not allowed to fast. Those who are not fasting should limit their food intake to the bare minimum; only bread and water if possible. Source: Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 124:6 MOST RABBIS OF LARGE CONGREGATIONS RULE TODAY THAT ONE CAN EAT AND DRINK AS USUAL DUE TO A MEDICAL CONDITION OUTSIDE OF JUST PLAIN TAKING ANTI-BIOTICS. HOWEVER, IF ONE USUALLY EATS DESERTS THAT WOULD BE FORBIDDEN UNTIL AFTER THE FAST.

We mourn and fast on 9 B'Av since the Bet Hamikdash was burned to the ground. The fire was ignited on 9 B'Av in the afternoon and burned throughout the 10th of Av.
Therefore the restrictions of "the 9 days" continue until after midday on the 10th of Av (today - Wednesday). The custom is to refrain from eating meat and wine, bathing, doing laundry, shaving and haircuts, saying Shehechiyanu and listening to music until Wednesday after noon. One may make a Seudat Mitzvah (like a Brit) in the morning, with meat and wine. (When 9 B'Av is on Thursday - as will happen in 10 years time if the Bet Hamikdash is not yet rebuilt - then these Halachos are slightly different.)
Source: Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 124:20-22

Usually the Haftarah is connected to the weekly Torah Reading. During the 7 weeks following the fast of 9 B'Av we read the Seven Haftarot of Consolation from Yishayahu.
This Shabbat is named after the opening words of the first of the Seven Haftaros of Consolation: נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ עַמִּי - Hashem instructs the prophet Yeshayahu to "Console, console My people". (Isaiah Ch. 40) Source: Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 128:4, 22:8,

Bob sent me this: This is the famous news article that Russell Pearce sent to his supporters. When the news media found out, he apologized and said he read only a paragraph or two and didn't know what he circulated, but anyone reading this quickly realizes there's no way to glance at this and not know what it is!http://www.natall.com/who-rules-america/

ANTI-HATE ORGANIZATION CALLS ON CNN TO END ITS ASSOCIATION WITH TERROR-RELATED GROUP
CNN’S T.J. HOLMES FEATURES ON HIS SHOW COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR OF HAMAS FRONT GROUP CAIR
(Coral Springs, FL) Americans Against Hate (AAH), an anti-bigotry, terrorism watchdog group, is calling for CNN to end its relationship with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group that has a number of ties to terrorist organizations, specifically Hamas.

CAIR was created by Hamas operatives in June 1994, and in recent years, CAIR was linked by the U.S. Justice Department to the financing of millions of dollars to Hamas.

On Sunday, July 18th, Ibrahim Hooper, the National Communications Director of CAIR, was featured on CNN’s Faces of Faith show, which is hosted by T.J. Holmes.

During the show, Holmes referred to CAIR as a “Muslim civil rights advocacy organization.” At the end of his interview with Hooper, Holmes stated to the CAIR rep, “I hope to have you back” and “[W]e appreciate having you.”

In January 2007, while being interviewed on CNN, Hooper refused to condemn either Hamas or Hezbollah.

AAH Chairman Joe Kaufman stated, “CNN and T.J. Holmes should understand that there is nothing worthwhile about trying to legitimize a group associated with overseas terrorism. CAIR is a Muslim extremist organization that should get no airtime whatsoever, no matter what the issue is. It is never okay to legitimize terror or those who support terror.”

Joe Kaufman

Our Parsha walks about Moshe pleading so M. Wolfberg entitled his story – Pleading the fifth.

Good Shabbos Everyone. In this week's portion VaEschanan, the Torah repeats the Ten Commandments. Being that the Ten Commandments are the foundation of Jewish belief, let us focus in on one of the Ten Commandments in order to strengthen our observance of the fundamentals of our faith. We will concentrate our discussion this week on the Fifth Commandment: Honor your Father and Mother. The mitzvah of honoring parents is very dear to Hashem. As the commentator the Chinuch explains, if one is meticulous in honoring his parents, he will come to honor Hashem.(Mitzvah 33) Because, one who appreciates his parents who give him his material needs, will surely come to appreciate and honor the One who gives the Universe its spiritual needs. Because, if Hashem were to "pull the plug", the Universe would cease to exist. Thus the mitzvah of honoring one's parents is dear to Hashem because it is a mitzvah which leads to honoring the Master of the Universe.
Hashem therefore promises us that if we honor our parents, we will live long, as the verse states, "You shall honor you father and mother as Hashem your G-d commanded you, in order that your days be lengthened…" (Devorim 5:16) It is as if Hashem sees one who honors his parents and says, "This person is worthwhile to keep alive for a while, because he appreciates the good that he receives." Everyone loves to hear "thank-you," while everyone despises an ingrate.
The following touching true story illustrates the extent to which one man was willing to go, in order to honor his parents.
In the summer of 1994, Rabbi Stavsky, an orthodox rabbi in Columbus, Ohio, received a telephone call. The call led to events that were as remarkable and moving as any he had witnessed and participated in all his years in the rabbinate. The caller spoke in Yiddish and said, "Rebbe, ich ruf eich mitt ah tzubrochin hartz (Rabbi, I am calling you with a broken heart.)" The man explained that he had come to Ohio a year ago from Kiev, Ukraine. He had a painful personal problem and he wished to discuss it privately. Rabbi Stavsky invited him to come over at once.
When Michel Darshevsky (not his real name) came to Rabbi Stavsky's office, he broke down as he explained the events of the past year. When he had first come to the Columbus area, he became a member of a local Reform temple. "How then can I help you?" asked Rabbi Stavsky. Michel's demeanor changed as he went on with his story. In 1941, Ukraine's German conquerors, with their Ukrainian henchmen (such as John Demjanjuk, may Hashem erase his memory), forced hundreds of Jews and gentile enemies of the state, to march to a field outside the city. Included among those were Jews Michel's parents. The German animals forced the helpless people to dig a huge mass grave and then lined them up and murdered them all. Michel had been able to run away from the group, and thus his life was spared. Knowing where his parents were buried, Michel went there regularly and recited the few Hebrew prayers he remembered. He was constantly plagued, though, that his parents were eternally buried together so disrespectfully and with gentiles.
When Michel realized that he would be coming to America, he went to the field in the Ukraine where his parents were buried and dug up some of the earth and put it in a jar. To him, this earth represented the remains of his beloved parents, and his dream was to honor their memory by burying it in a Jewish cemetery.
One day, after having settled in the Columbus, Ohio area, he went to see the rabbi of a local Reform temple. Michel told him how his parents had been murdered, and that he now wanted to bury their symbolic remains in a Jewish cemetery. The rabbi assured him that it would be done. Soon after, Michel buried the earth-filled jar in the Reform temple's cemetery. A few weeks after the burial, Michel came to the Reform rabbi and told him that the time had come to put up the monument for his parents. Proudly, he told the rabbi that he had saved up money and had purchased a small monument with his parents' names engraved in Hebrew and in English.
The Reform rabbi looked at Michel with astonishment. "You can't have that monument put up in our cemetery," he said. "That's not the way we do things here. Our cemetery allows only for a flat slab of marble, engraved with the name of the deceased, to be placed on top of the grave. Nothing more. We don't consider monuments aesthetic." Michel protested, saying that monuments were traditional and that was the way graves had been identified for generations. The rabbi explained that the expansive rolling hills of the cemetery were beautiful and that the monument would interrupt the gracious panorama of the terrain. He tried to make Michel understand that things were done differently in America; Ohio was not the Ukraine.
Michel became angry and told the rabbi that if he couldn't put up the monument, he would dig up the jar and bury it somewhere else. The rabbi was not intimidated and told Michel that he could do so if he pleased but that the temple could not change its policy for one person, no matter how much he liked Michel.
Michel had finished telling Rabbi Stavsky about his experiences with the Reform rabbi. The Russian Jew's eyes now swelled with tears as he looked worriedly at Rabbi Stavsky. "Please, Rebbe," he said, "do you have a Jewish cemetery where I could bury my jar with the earth of my parents and then put up the matzeivah (monument)?" Rabbi Stavsky was overwhelmed. Tenderly he assured Michel that the burial and the placement of the monument would be arranged with dignity and respect. A few days later, Rabbi Stavsky and a minyan of 10 men went to his shul's cemetery. A small grave had been opened for Michel's jar. Before they placed the jar in the earth, Michel sat down and wrote in Yiddish on a piece of paper: "Dearest Father and Mother, I will never forget you. Your loving son, Michel." Michel put the slip of paper in the jar and the people gently buried the jar of earth. Rabbi Stavsky led everyone in the recitation of some chapters of Tehillim (Psalms) and he helped Michel say Kaddish. As they were driving home from the cemetery, Michel turned to Rabbi Stavsky and said in Yiddish with palpable relief, "Tonight, I can sleep. For all these years, I was so concerned and troubled that my parents were not in kever Yisrael, a Jewish grave. But tonight I know they rest in peace." (Echoes of the Maggid , Rabbi Pesach Krohn p.145) Hopefully, our parents will live long and healthy lives so that we can honor them in life at least as much as Michel honored his parents after their unfortunate deaths.
By being meticulous in the mitzvah of honoring our parents, we may be able to pay them back just a little for all that they have done for us in this world. Then we will come to a realization of how much we owe Hashem, for all that He does for us in this world and in the World to Come. Good Shabbos Everyone.